I'm in my mid 30s (gulp) and married to a great guy. We live in Northern VA with our crazy hound dog Cady. We love to travel, eat great food, drink good wine, cheer for our favorite sports teams and have fun with friends. This blog is a collection of things - travel stories, DC happenings, home improvement projects, recipes, and all kinds of fun adventures we're having!

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Tuesday, March 11, 2014

A little trim

When we found and went under contract on the new house, we couldn't help but notice these 2 decent sized but manageable crepe myrtles right at the front door. We love crepes, so were excited to have them. We weren't huge on the placement, but figured we could manage.

Well, that was May. By August when we moved in, they were HUGE. They blocked most of the house! The previous owner came by one afternoon in late August to give us a tour of the 'gardens,' and explained that her landscaper had told her they were dwarf ones. So much to her surprise, they were a LOT bigger than expected. She had even had them cut way back, hence the smaller size from May.

So I trimmed the branches that hung over the sidewalk, and just let them be through the fall. Now that winter is almost over, it's time to do some serious pruning. After doing some internet research, and determined not to be a 'crepe murderer,' I had my new big clippers in hand and went to work.

Before:

After:

The one on the left has been trimmed, compared to the untouched one on the right.

What a difference! It's hard to tell in the photos because they're just sticks, but it really makes a big difference. You can actually see the house!

How much is that doggy in the window?

The eventual plan is to move them - they're huge trees, and need more space than they have. We have talked about trying to sell one or both, or finding space in other places in the yard for them. I think we have room for at least one, so we'll just have to see. But for now, and for this summer, hopefully the thinning will help - and I'm hoping they will continue to grow up rather than just out, so they don't completely block all of the windows.

3 comments:

keep me posted on your crepes. We have one in the front of the house that I chopped to death the day after we moved it. It was almost as tall as the house. I was always told you can cut them way back, but it is just so huge. We'll see.

Yes, I actually noticed the tree on Saturday! The trimmings looked fresh, so that reminded me to do some research on the best time to prune them, and it's late Feb/early March - so I went at it! There are a lot of articles online that are really helpful.

HAHA, I did that on Dec 8. The whole front of the house was a mess (dead bushes, over growth etc,), so we had to trim a lot. Now it looks barren. I love crepes. Let me know if you end up moving them. I think we have the room for it, but it might get out of hand too.